California Democratic Party convention endorses CFA’s ‘Fight for Five’ for fair pay for Cal State U. facultyNEWS FROM THE CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATION

March 1, 2016

SAN JOSE, CA—The 3200 delegates to the California Democratic
Party convention voted today to endorse the California Faculty
Association’s “Fight for Five” campaign.

The Fight for Five calls for fair pay for the 26,000 professors,
lecturers, coaches, counselors and librarians who teach in the
California State University system. Contract talks have broken
down. If no settlement is reached, CSU faculty will go on strike
for five days, April 13-15 and 18-19.

CFA President Jennifer Eagan, a professor at CSU East Bay, one of
the 23 CSU campuses, told delegates just before the vote:

“We’re the little labor union that is taking on the
largest university administration in the nation…. This is the
People’s University. My colleagues and I have graduated more
students than any other university system in the nation…. [yet]
the [CSU] chancellor thinks our work is not important.

We the faculty think our students deserve better. They
deserve more than faculty working three jobs and stretching to
make ends meet. They deserve better than having more and more
part-time faculty and fewer full-time faculty to help them
achieve their dreams. They deserve better than higher fees in
exchange for a growing bureaucracy with highly paid
administrators who don’t teach.

“…. And it is a fight not just for faculty or for the
students. It’s a fight that represents our democratic values, the
values of economic justice and social mobility. It’s a fight for
a better state, and I hope you will join us.”

“California doesn’t have the country’s biggest and best
public universities by accident. It’s because of the hard work of
dedicated faculty and students.

“I know because I graduated from San Francisco State
University and it launched me on my career more than 60 years
ago. California State University faculty have stood with students
and parents to protect our public universities during the
recession. We need to give CSU faculty the respect they deserve
and pay them what they are worth.”